Just as I was about to ask what was going on, Asuna began to move her left hand. Her thumb and forefinger moved through the air, and a menu window appeared with an accompanying sound effect.In the blue-tinted darkness, Asuna's fingers moved across the glowing purple menu window. It appeared that she was manipulating the left menu, which controlled the player's equipment.As soon as I thought that, the knee-high stockings that Asuna was wearing disappeared, and the elegant curves of her legs were laid bare before my eyes. Her fingers moved again, and this time her short, one-piece robe was taken off. I couldn't help but open my mouth wide and bulged my eyes until they were round; my mind had fallen into a complete stop.Asuna was now wearing only her underwear. Small white cloths which barely managed to cover her chest and waist.“D-Don't look... this way....”She said, her small voice trembling. But even though she said this, I still couldn't shift my eyes away.Asuna tried to cover her chest with her hands as she wavered; but after she raised her head and looked straight at me, she lowered her arms gracefully.

I received a shock that felt as if my soul had left my body and could only watch her with a blank expression.The word "Beautiful" didn't even begin to describe her. Her skin that was tinged with blue light particles was soft and sleek. Her hair seemed as if it was made from the finest silk. Her breasts curved so perfectly that it appeared, ironically, as if no graphic engine in existence could generate it. The curvature of her legs that started at her slim waist made one think of the gracefulness of a wild animal.It was impossible to believe that her appearance was only a 3D rendered image. If I were to describe it, it was like a sculpture made by God with life blown into it.The data collected by the Nerve Gear from the calibration step of player registration determined the body tone of the players' avatars. With that in mind, one would call the existence of such a perfect body a miracle.I kept staring at her almost bare body as if my soul had left my body. If Asuna hadn't covered herself with both arms and opened her mouth to speak, I would have kept standing like that even an hour later.Asuna's face was so red that I could tell even in the blue-tinted darkness of the room. She lowered her head and spoke:“K-Kirito-kun, take your clothes off too.... It's em-embarrassing for me to be like this by myself.”After hearing that, I finally realized the meaning behind Asuna's actions.In other words, she took what I said— that I wanted to spend the night with her, in a deeper sense than what I meant.As soon as I understood that, I also fell into an endlessly deep panic. As a result, I committed the worst mistake in my whole life up until now.“Err... No, you see, I just thought...that it would be good, if we stayed to— together in a room tonight...”“Eh...?”As I responded stupidly with my honest thoughts, it was Asuna who froze with her mouth wide open this time. Then, an expression of intense anger and embarrassment spread across her face.“You... You...”Her clenched right fist revealed an almost visible killing intent.“Idiot—!!”Asuna's fist, which had accelerated to a speed that utilized all of her dexterity stats, was stopped just barely before striking my face by the Crime Prevention Code and released a loud noise and a spray of purple sparks instead.“A-Ahh—! Wait!! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Forget what I said!”I tried to explain while frantically waving my hands about to Asuna, who was about to throw her second punch without paying any attention to me.“I'm sorry, I was wrong!! Bu...But, anyway, can you... like... actually d-do it...? In SAO...?”Asuna dropped her attacking stance and was a bit taken aback, although still furious. Then she asked:“You, you mean you don't know...?”“No, I don't...”Then, Asuna's expression changed suddenly from one of anger to one of embarrassment, before she explained in a small voice:“...That is... In the options menu, all the way on the bottom... there's an option called «Ethic Code Off».”It was the first time I had ever heard of such a thing. I'm sure this wasn't available during the beta test, nor was it mentioned in the manual. To think that this was another price that I had to pay for playing as a solo player and not having any interest except fighting.But this information raised a new question that I couldn't help but think about. Since I still hadn't fully recovered my ability to think straight, I unintentionally said it out loud:“...Have... Have you ever done it before...?”Once again, Asuna's iron fist erupted in sparks right before my face."O-Of course not, you idiot—!! I just heard about it from the other girls in the guild!!"I hurried to kneel down on the ground before her and apologized endlessly. It took several minutes before I finally managed to calm her down.